Local law

Where Zone 0 is already law: every California jurisdiction with rules in force

Fact-checked August 19, 2026·Sources at the end of this article

Thirty-five jurisdictions, and fewer rules than that

The Board of Forestry and Fire Protection approved the statewide Zone 0 regulation on August 19, 2026. Approval is not the finish line: the package still needs Office of Administrative Law review, including a five-day public comment period, and publication by the Secretary of State, so the rule is not in effect and no statewide compliance clock is running. Staff have said they will submit an emergency rulemaking package that could make the rules effective as early as September 2026. That schedule has slipped before: Governor Newsom's Executive Order N-18-25 directed the Board to finish rulemaking by December 31, 2025, and the Board did not.

So "Zone 0 is the law" is still only true in specific places, and it is worth being precise about which ones. As of August 19, 2026, at least thirty-five California jurisdictions have their own ember-resistant-zone rules in force, and the eight detailed below are the ones we cover in depth. Each treats roughly the same territory, the first five feet out from a structure, but they differ on who is covered, what is prohibited, and when.

Corrected August 25, 2026. This section used to be headed "twenty-six jurisdictions, twenty-six different rules." That is a quotation of what we used to say, kept at the number we said it at, and it is not what we found when we went looking properly.

Fourteen of the thirty-five jurisdictions sit in Riverside County and carry one fence rule between them, word for word, and ten of the fourteen adopted it before the county did. Five of the six in San Diego County share a different sentence, which was in that county's Consolidated Fire Code from 2023 and moved into the districts' separate wildland-urban interface ordinances for the 2026 edition. They are county fire agency model texts adopted district by district, not twenty-nine independent inventions, and that changes the useful question from "what did my council decide" to "what does my county fire agency's model ordinance say." We set the whole pattern out here. The variety described below is real, but it is variety between families and a handful of one-offs, not across all twenty-nine. If you are new to the topic, our full guide to California Zone 0 fencing rules covers the statewide picture; this article is the local roster.

Ventura County Fire Protection District: the earliest, and the most complete (2019 / 2025)

The Ventura County Fire Protection District (which covers all of Ventura County except the cities of Ventura, Oxnard, and Fillmore, which run their own fire departments) has required Zone 0 for new buildings since April 1, 2019, the earliest local Zone 0 requirement we have verified in California. Effective March 1, 2025, the district's Wildland-Urban Interface Code went further, from the code text: "Fuels, including Combustible Materials and vegetation, are prohibited in Zone 0 for all New Buildings, additions to Existing Buildings, installation of new landscape, and refurbishment of existing landscape areas."

New-construction Zone 0 in the district requires noncombustible fencing and gates and bans combustible mulch, wood chips and firewood. Existing buildings with older landscaping are not exempt from everything: the code bars combustible landscape mulch, firewood, and vegetation under decks, prohibits artificial grass, and bars planting new trees in the zone. The district's Standard 515 describes Zone 0 as hardscape-only: "Rock, sand, decomposed granite (DG), dirt, pavers, concrete, etc." Full county picture, including the Board of Supervisors' October 2025 resolution pushing back on the state draft: Zone 0 in Ventura County.

Laguna Beach: existing structures since 2021

The City of Laguna Beach passed Ordinance 1664 on October 5, 2021, adopting its Defensible Space Guideline for Existing Structures in the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone; compliance became effective November 5, 2021. The guideline defines the zones directly: "Zone 0: From zero to five feet. This is the ember resistant zone." About 85% of the city sits in the Very High zone, and the Laguna Beach Fire Department runs its own inspection program and issues Letters of Compliance. It is the only adopted local Zone-0-style requirement we found in Orange County; details are in Zone 0 in Orange County.

Moraga-Orinda Fire District: the all-structures ordinance (March 17, 2023)

The Moraga-Orinda Fire District, in Contra Costa County, adopted Ordinances 23-03 and 23-04, effective March 17, 2023 (among the earliest Zone 0 rules in California, and the first we know of that applies to every structure in its territory). The district defines Zone 0 as the area from zero to five feet out from any structure, attached deck, or outbuilding. One thing to be precise about, because this is a fencing publication and the distinction decides whether you need to spend anything: the district's noncombustible ground cover requirement reaches two feet, not five, and the ordinance imposes no noncombustible-fence requirement at all. Its only fence provision bans screens and fences made of bark, mulch or wood chips within 100 feet of a structure. A wood board fence in Moraga or Orinda is not regulated by this ordinance today.

The date matters more than the details. Moraga-Orinda put an ember-resistant zone into enforceable local law almost two years before the January 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires and more than three years before the statewide vote in August 2026. It is the proof that a California fire agency does not have to wait for Sacramento.

Auburn: a rule for new construction only (July 10, 2024)

Auburn, in Placer County, wrote its Zone 0 fence rule into requirements for new construction. Auburn Municipal Code §100.87(D) has been in force since July 10, 2024, and its fencing text is short enough to quote in full:

The portions of combustible gates or fences which run perpendicular to and/or touch the structure shall be constructed with noncombustible material to a minimum of five feet (5 ft.) from the structure.

Auburn Municipal Code §100.87(D)

Two things stand out. First, it applies to new construction, so existing homes and their existing fences are untouched. Second, it targets exactly the geometry fire researchers worry about, the perpendicular run that carries flame to the wall, with the same five-foot noncombustible transition the statewide regulation requires (approved August 19, 2026, not yet in effect).

Berkeley's EMBER ordinance: the broadest prohibition list (January 1, 2026)

Berkeley's ordinance, known as EMBER, took effect January 1, 2026. It is not citywide: it applies in two designated hillside areas, the Grizzly Peak and Panoramic hillside mitigation zones. Within those zones, it prohibits the following within five feet of a structure:

weeds, grass, plants (including climbing vines), debris, wood mulch products, combustible fencing and gates, plastic trash and recycle cans, trellis, pergolas, shade coverings, combustible planters, privacy walls, boats, RVs, and other material that could be ignited by embers or direct flame.

Berkeley Municipal Code Chapter 19.49 (EMBER ordinance)

"Combustible fencing and gates" sits in the middle of that list, which makes Berkeley's the strictest fence language of the six: an outright prohibition within the zone, not just a five-foot transition where the fence meets the house.

Redlands: mandatory for existing homes, and in High zones the state will not reach

Redlands wrote its ember-resistant zone into its wildland-urban interface code, Chapter 15.30, by Ordinance 2998 in December 2025, and section 604.6 puts the duty on "all existing habitable buildings and structures within the High and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone." Both halves of that scope are unusual: existing buildings, and High zones as well as Very High. On the Local Responsibility Area track the statewide rule stops at Very High, so a Redlands homeowner in a High zone is covered by their city and would not be covered by the state.

Section 604.6.1, "Zone Zero (0-5 feet) - Ember Resistant," bans organic mulch and wood chips outright and requires noncombustible ground cover such as concrete, gravel or decomposed granite; firewood may not be stored in the zone; vegetation is thinned, grasses cut to four inches, and branches kept six feet above roofs, combustible fences and the ground. There is no fence rule anywhere in the chapter. Details and citations are on the San Bernardino County page.

Fremont: six feet where the state will ask five (September 16, 2025)

Fremont's rule hides one layer down, and it is stricter than the state's in the one place it binds. Ordinance 12-2025 adopts the city's Wildland-Urban Interface Code and, "as part of this ordinance," the Fire Department's Defensible Space Inspection Guide, a document drafted like an ordinance: scope, definitions, inspections, penalties, cost liens. Its fences subsection requires any new combustible fence to keep at least six feet of separation from any structure unless the last six feet connecting to the structure are noncombustible, and it bans fences or barriers of bark, mulch or wood chips within 100 feet of a structure in the city's Very High zones. The statewide rule, once effective, will ask for five feet at the connection; Fremont already asks for six. Existing wood fences are untouched.

The guide's Zone 0 vegetation list, by contrast, is expressly headed "RECOMMENDATIONS," the same named-but-advisory pattern as Amador County's 2022 ordinance. The mandatory fence geometry is what puts Fremont on the register; details and citations are on the Alameda County page.

San Diego: the biggest Zone 0 jurisdiction in force

San Diego's ordinance, SDMC §512.0604, covers all structures in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone (FHSZ, the state's fire hazard mapping classification) within city limits, an area reported to cover roughly two-thirds of San Diego city residents. That makes it by far the largest Zone 0 jurisdiction with rules in force.

The rollout is phased. New structures have been covered since February 28, 2026. The phase for existing structures begins February 28, 2027, and the city asks owners to "attempt to achieve full compliance", including fence and gate replacement, by February 28, 2029.

Two details are easy to miss. First, San Diego is more permissive on materials than the statewide regulation: it allows existing vinyl fencing within five feet in certain parallel configurations, and fire-retardant treated wood (FRTW, wood chemically treated to slow ignition) for new parallel fences. Neither allowance survives the state definition of noncombustible (materials that pass ASTM E136, a laboratory furnace test of whether the material itself can burn), so work that satisfies San Diego today may not satisfy the state once the adopted rule takes effect. Second, the ordinance stops at the city line, which is not the same as the rest of the county having nothing. Escondido, El Cajon, Chula Vista, Carlsbad and Poway are separate incorporated cities and we found no Zone 0 ordinance of their own. Fallbrook, Ramona and San Marcos are not in that position: each is served by a county fire protection district that does have a Zone 0 rule. We cover the ordinance section by section in our San Diego Zone 0 breakdown.

Los Angeles is moving the other way

Not every local government is racing ahead of the state. In January 2026, the Los Angeles City Council directed LAFD to draft deliberately more lenient Zone 0 rules, aligned with "the most lenient options that allow healthy vegetation and do not require the removal of tree limbs within five feet of a house." No ordinance has been adopted, so LA belongs on no one's in-force list.

Read that council direction carefully, though. The contested provisions concern vegetation and tree limbs. The no-combustible-fence provision has broad support among fire professionals. In other words, even the jurisdiction pushing hardest for leniency is not pushing back on fences.

The unverified reports

A secondary trade source has reported local Zone 0 ordinances in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Marin counties, and in the Kensington Fire Protection District. The Kensington report resolved on August 23, 2026, into something real but different: the district's Ordinance 2025-01 is not an ember-zone rule in force, it is the state's most explicit pointer ordinance, requiring conformance with the state's defensible space law “as each is amended from time to time” and stating an intent to carry Zone Zero, with a point-of-sale certificate regime attached; the county page quotes it. The rest we have not been able to confirm from primary sources, so they do not appear in the roster above. If you live in one of those areas, let the report prompt a call to your local fire agency. On its own it is not a fact.

Saratoga is a more interesting one, and we are leaving it unresolved on purpose. The city's fire prevention page carries two sentences that read like a Zone 0 obligation: "A tree located within five feet of a home anywhere in the City may be removed following the creation of defensible space in that zone", and "The area around the building from which a tree is removed must be maintained as an ember-resistant zone for the life of the building."

That second sentence is a real, continuing requirement, and it is unusual: the duty attaches to having removed a tree rather than to the property. Saratoga regulates tree removal tightly, so this is a live mechanism rather than a theoretical one. What we cannot tell from the page is whether it is Saratoga's own adopted code or a restatement of the state statute, and it points at Chapter 16-52 without quoting a section. It says nothing about fences.

So it is not on the roster. It is worth a call to the city if you are in Saratoga and thinking about taking out a tree near the house, because on this wording the clearance you create may be one you are then obliged to keep.

Can your city water the state rule down? Only in one direction

Once the statewide rule takes effect, the obvious question is whether a local fire agency can soften it. The August package answers that in a provision almost nobody has quoted, §1298.03, and the answer is that local agencies get real flexibility that runs one way.

"A local agency responsible for fire protection in an LRA may choose to develop alternative practices for Defensible Space compliance, based on the regulations in this article, that account for local variations... The alternative practices shall be approved by the city council, board of supervisors, or appropriate governing body and supported with a finding by the local agency responsible for fire protection that the alternative practices provide for, at a minimum, substantially similar practical effects as those stated in these regulations."

§1298.03, August 19, 2026 draft package. The certified text has not been released.

Three conditions travel together, and any one of them alone would be misleading:

• It is not the fire agency's own call. Alternative practices need approval from the city council, board of supervisors, or equivalent governing body.
• There has to be a finding that the alternatives deliver "at a minimum, substantially similar practical effects".
• This is Local Responsibility Area only. It sits in the 1298 series. If you are in the State Responsibility Area, it is not your provision.

So a local agency can tailor Zone 0 to lot sizes, topography, structure density or local building standards. On the face of this text it cannot use that flexibility to require less protection. If a contractor tells you your city has "opted out", that is not a thing this provision creates.

One wrinkle, and we flag it because we checked

§1298.03 supports that floor by citing Public Resources Code §4117, which it describes as a section "which requires" local ordinances, and says such ordinances "shall be as protective or more protective than state statutes". We looked §4117 up. It reads:

"Any county, city, or district may adopt ordinances, rules, or regulations to provide fire prevention restrictions or regulations that are necessary to meet local conditions of weather, vegetation, or other fire hazards. Such ordinances, rules, or regulations may be more restrictive than state statutes in order to meet local fire hazard conditions."

Public Resources Code §4117

The closing words, "than state statutes in order to meet local fire hazard conditions", are identical in both. The draft takes that sentence and turns "may adopt" into "requires", and "may be more restrictive" into "shall be as protective or more protective". As enacted, §4117 is an enabling statute: it lets local agencies go stricter, it does not command a floor.

This probably does not change what you have to do. The "shall" sentence sits in the regulation, and the Board can impose that condition through its own rulemaking whatever §4117 says. We are not alleging anything was done in bad faith; paraphrases drift. We are noting it because it is checkable in about two minutes, because a reader who looks up §4117 expecting a mandate will find permission instead, and because this is a draft whose certified version has not been published. We will re-read this provision when the certified text appears, and say so here either way.

Why the patchwork is permanent

The Board's August 19, 2026 approval does not make the local ordinances above disappear, and the variation between jurisdictions likely does not either. Government Code §51182(f) allows local agencies to adopt alternative practices for defensible space, and an owner who complies with locally adopted alternatives "shall not be deemed to have violated this section."

There is a second source of variation: the state released updated Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps for local responsibility areas in four phases between February 10 and March 24, 2025, the first update since 2011. Local agencies must adopt those zones by ordinance and may add area at their discretion, so a city's covered territory can be broader than the state map shows. The statewide rule will set a floor once it is effective. Where you live still sets the details.

What this means for you

Start with geography, not materials.

• In any jurisdiction listed in the register, Moraga-Orinda, Auburn, Berkeley's hillside zones and San Diego among them: a Zone 0 rule applies to you right now. Read your jurisdiction's actual text (linked in the sources below) before planning fence work, and note which trigger applies: Auburn's rule reaches new construction only, while San Diego's existing-structure phase begins February 28, 2027.
• In one of the unverified counties: call your local fire agency and ask directly whether an ember-resistant-zone ordinance is in force at your address. Our guide to whether Zone 0 applies to your home walks through how to check your hazard zone.
• Everywhere else in a hazard zone: no local ordinance binds you today, and the statewide rule is adopted but not yet in effect, so it imposes no duty on you right now either. But every in-force ordinance and the adopted state regulation point the same direction: a noncombustible first five feet where a fence meets the house. If you are building new anyway, building to that standard means not redoing the work later. Our rundown of noncombustible fence materials covers what qualifies.

And in every case: the Board voted on August 19, 2026, and the picture can change quickly from here. The live status tracker is the fastest way to see what is actually in force where you live.